So, you've completed an intense dieting period and feel great about yourself. You've lost weight, eating healthier, and looking forward to maintaining your new healthy lifestyle. But what about after your diet? Is it really healthy to just go back to eating the way you did before?
What you need is a reverse dieting plan to help you transition back to a normal, healthy diet without gaining back all the weight you lost. With a reverse diet, you gradually increase your calorie intake and reintroduce previously restricted foods in a controlled manner.
Reverse dieting, or, as people say, diet after diet, is a challenging task that only gets successful with the correct efforts. Earlier reverse dieting was only popular among bodybuilders, but people now understand how important it is to maintain a lifestyle after prolonged dieting.
And reverse dieting can be a great help for that. So, let's dive into deep knowledge about reverse dieting's before and after effects and how to make it work successfully.
Is It Possible to Lose Weight While Reverse Dieting?
Don't worry about how to do a reverse diet; it is a simple process. For many people, reverse dieting is about adapting the eating pattern you used to follow before a dieting period.
Even though the word literally means to eat some extra calories, it doesn't imply consuming in bulk. You are eating more than you do on a diet, but the goal of the diet is to keep your weight the same.
A reverse diet helps your body gradually get into the normal phase while keeping healthy. The gradual increase is to help in the restoration of metabolic rates that were decreased during the restrictive periods.
Usually, it's a favorite of bodybuilders as it prevents fat regain after the competition when the person increases calorie intake. But now, many people are following this diet plan to end up dieting with deliberate yet helpful changes.
You may wonder if it is possible not to ruin your successful weight loss while eating more. The answer to this is yes. Reverse dieting, when done correctly, prevents fat and weight regain significantly.
However, there is no proven weight decrease. With this diet plan, you can stick to a certain weight while providing your body with the desired calories after a prolonged calorie-restricted diet.
Related Article: 12 Things You Need to Know Before Starting a Diet Plan
How Long Does It Take for Your Body to Adjust to Reverse Dieting?
If you've been yo-yo dieting for years, the thought of reverse dieting may sound too good to be true. After all, who wouldn't want to eat more food and still lose weight? However, before you jump on the reverse dieting bandwagon, it's important to understand how this approach works and how long it may take for your body to adjust.
It's important to understand reverse dieting has no magic. To date the effects are promising for most individuals but don't have a particular duration. The goal of reverse dieting is to slowly and systematically increase calories and reverse any negative effects on the body that may have occurred during the restrictive dieting phase.
This approach can help restore metabolic function, normalize hormones, reduce hunger, and improve overall energy levels. Although reverse dieting requires patience and discipline, it can be an effective way to transition back to a more sustainable way of eating. Reverse dieting may also help increase testosterone levels, leading to improved muscle mass and strength.
Everybody and their adaptation capability are different. And reverse dieting is all about metabolic adaptation, so it is difficult to mention specific periods. Usually, it is recommended to follow a reverse diet plan for 4-10 weeks to help your body adjust accordingly.
Metabolic adaptation is a term that refers to the body's ability to adjust its calorie-burning rate in response to changes in diet and activity level. For example, if you drastically reduce your calorie intake, your body will adjust by burning fewer calories.
The reverse is also true - if you increase your calorie intake, your body will burn more calories. The degree of metabolic adaptation varies from person to person, but it is generally believed that the body becomes more efficient at burning calories over time.
This is one of the reasons why reverse dieting can be so effective. By slowly increasing your calorie intake, you can "trick" your body into burning more calories than it would otherwise.
As a result, you can lose weight without starving yourself or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Reverse dieting can be a helpful tool for anyone who wants to lose weight in a healthy and sustainable way.
Here are some factors that affect the duration:
- Body responses
- Your purpose
- Your age and health
- The period of a calorie-restricted diet
Related Article: Diet Plateau Hacks: Get Back on the Road to Lean
Hacks to Being Successful
Every individual deserves a perfect transitioning diet plan after strict weight loss diets, such as reverse dieting. But it can go wrong when done incorrectly. So, if you aim to maintain your weight while letting your body adapt to the required calorie intake, focusing on the hacks we have brought to you is crucial.
1. Build Slowly
Instant results are not possible, so don't go too fast. We have seen people jump right into a high-caloric diet, expecting no weight gain and only healthy outcomes. Unfortunately, this is not the outcome. It can harm your body and your purpose as well. Proceed gradually if you really want an impact.
The previous diet plan affected your metabolic rate because of weight loss with low-calorie intake. Your body takes time to adapt to the change; in the same way, it will take time to adjust one more time to the new composition.
The usual starting rate is a 10% increase in your daily calorie intake. After that, you can raise 10% weekly if your body responds well.
2. Take Regular Measurements
Taking measurements regularly while reverse dieting helps to the course and build confidence in the process. It is obvious to gain some weight but with the least fat accumulation.
The goal is to build lean muscle mass and not accumulate fat with your reverse diet. If there are positive adaptations, you can notice them through regular body measurements, especially if your waistline is nearly the same as before.
Your body might take time to adjust the metabolism with an increased caloric rate. So, if you determine any unwanted fat on your body parts, it's better to stick to the same calorie intake for another week. This is why regular measurements are beneficial for the reverse dieting results.
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3. Use Carbohydrates Strategically
It's no secret that carbohydrates are an important part of a healthy diet. They provide the body with energy, help to regulate blood sugar levels, and are a good source of fiber.
However, many people find that they need to limit their intake of carbs in order to lose weight or maintain their weight. This is where reverse dieting can be helpful. By strategically increasing your carb intake, you can give your body the energy it needs to perform at its best.
Reverse dieting can also help to regulate hormones, improve sleep quality, and reduce stress levels. Thyroid production is vital for metabolism, energy levels, and the improvement of depleted muscle cells. It is possible with appropriate consumption of carbohydrates.
You should remember that the carbs you consume must be of good quality to help with insulin sensitivity and inflammation. This carb intake strategy will be your help throughout the journey.
4. Cycle Calories
Caloric cycling can significantly impact the reverse dieting results. This is because your body mass, type, and energy requirement should decide the calorie intake from one day to the next.
You should also start adding some healthy fats to your food intake. Your body requires good fats for a variety of reasons, and one of them is to enhance testosterone levels, which are decreased during the calorie-restricted diet.
There are days like leg and back days during which you will need high energy levels, while some days can be low fuel days. So, caloric cycling can be an impactful strategy for reverse dieting, especially if you are a focused performer and want to maintain weight.
5. Keep Doing Cardio
Many people think of discontinuing cardio workouts once they are done with the weight loss period. But, no, precision nutrition reverse dieting also gets enhanced with cardio.
This type of workout improves heart health, performance, and efficiency. Of course, you can reduce the intensity level, but leaving it suddenly after high volume days will make you vulnerable to unwanted fat accumulation during the reverse dieting period.
6. Use the Extra Energy to Set PRS
If you are willing to set a long-term goal, it's time to work on your personal records. This can be the best way to feel dedicated. As you move back to the normal eating phase after any of the prolonged diets for weight loss, the high caloric intake will also raise your energy level.
You don't have to keep that extra energy for later. Use it right away through some powerful workouts to enhance your body performance.
During low-calorie days, the body gets used to a declined energy phase. Then with an appropriate boost of calories, your body begins to feel energetic and fueled for a long time.
So, make good use of it through intense training to enjoy tremendous anabolic response while maintaining the weight. Set new personal records and keep tracking to reach higher levels.
7. Never Forget Hydration
Your fluid intake significantly influences the body's performance and your reverse dieting plan. The metabolic change during the restricted diet days and then in the high caloric days leads to severe dehydration.
It is normal because when your muscle cells get enough glycogen after a long time with a higher calorie intake, there is more water absorption. So, focus on proper hydration during your reverse diet.
If progress is your goal, try having an essential amino acid hydration powder supplement to enjoy better muscle functioning. It can help you build lean muscle mass while saving your muscles from deterioration, usually occurring during the post-diet phase.
The supplement is able to provide your muscle with the required hydration so that you can perform well at the gym with all the strength and power.
8. Support the Gut
During the low-caloric diet, we often eliminate some food groups. Because of this, the body may stop making some enzymes as they are not in use. As a result, the gut suffers from a shock when you reintroduce those abandoned foods suddenly.
So, give your gut enough time to adapt to the new food groups and gradually reintroduce them. Also, ensure you drink plenty of water and have healthy and fibrous food items to support your gut activity.
You can try consuming a probiotic supplement to offer your gut the beneficial probiotic and prebiotic blend that makes your gut healthy. The supplement is prepared to handle stomach acid reactions so that the microorganism can keep working for your healthy gut efficiently.
9. Stick With Rules
It is never favorable to satisfy your taste buds while harming your body, be it any phase. If you are a person who loves to be in shape with appropriate muscle gain, never fall for cravings, especially during the reverse dieting period.
Sticking to the rules will not only help you focus on your goals but will enhance the results incredibly. You can easily avoid negative fat storage while eating more when you keep all the rules in mind. Foods that are too high in carbs or sugar are never healthy for any individual.
10. Resistance Training & Protein Intake
While in a reverse diet phase, two of the most important things you can do will be to do resistance training, if you're not already, and to keep your protein intake high. The reason for this is to stimulate lean muscle growth.
Since you were in a calorie-deficit prior to a reverse diet, it was probably hard to put on lean muscle. This is because your body isn't in an anabolic state, it is trying to consume its extra energy stores (your fat).
But now, in a reverse diet calories are increasing and your body is looking to grow again! By following a proper resistance training program and consuming adequate amounts of protein we can shuttle the body's efforts into laying down lean muscle tissue.
Having more lean muscle tissue will also make you more metabolically active therefore leading to an easier reverse diet altogether.
FAQs
1. How to make reverse dieting effective?
Reverse dieting requires time to show results like the calorie-restricted diet. Shift to higher calorie intake from lower, gradually. Keep the process slow and strategic to make it efficient.
2. How does reverse dieting work?
Adjusting your body to increased calorie consumption is what reverse dieting does. A reverse diet plan aims to boost metabolism, curb hunger, and enhance energy levels. It also impacts your weight by keeping it maintained.
3. Why am I gaining weight during reverse dieting?
A slight increase is normal, but if you notice unwanted fat accumulation, it can be because of too high or too quick a calorie increase. Reverse dieting means slowly increasing the calorie intake. However, if the fat accumulation is still on the rise, you must discontinue the calorie increase until your weight is maintained.
4. Who needs reverse dieting?
Reverse dieting can be done by any individual, especially the ones willing to gain impressive muscle mass with no fat regain after a restricted diet. But to know when you need it, you must track your weight. If weight loss is becoming difficult for you, you have plateaued or you are done with the required weight reduction, you are ready for reverse dieting.
Bottom Line
Reverse dieting is fun; you eat more while staying within limits to maintain your weight. But for many people, it may sound complicated and difficult to follow. However, you can simply begin with reverse dieting with some easy-peasy steps. The process has the ability to teach your body to adapt to new changes that too is simple and healthy. Reverse dieting is a great way to save your body from a calorie spike after restricted diet days. A reverse diet is for you if you are willing to enjoy tremendous lean muscle mass build without post-diet fat regain.
